Suzanne Dorothy Rutland OAM (born 1946 in Sydney) is Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney. She was previously Chair of the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies, at Sydney University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, serving in that position for 11 years. She specializes in the history of Australian Jews and religious education. Her work Edge of the Diaspora: Two Centuries of Jewish Settlement in Australia was first published in 1988 with further editions in 1997 and 2001. Her work The Jews in Australia was published by Cambridge University Press in 2005. Her book co-written with journalist Sam Lipski, Let My People Go: The Untold Story of Australia and Soviet Jews, 1959-1989, Melbourne: Hybrid Publishers was published in 2015 and in 2016 was joint-winner of Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award (Australian History).
She has held numerous leadership positions, including president of the Australian Jewish Historical Society and Sydney editor of its journal since 1991, as well as serving on its committee. She has been actively involved with the Australian Association of Jewish Studies, has served as its president and been the convenor of a number of its conferences. She is currently a committee member and, as a past president, very actively involved. She is also a Board Member of the Freilich Project, ANU, Honorary Secretary of the University of Sydney Association of Professors’ and a member of Australia’s expert delegation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, on its Education Working Group, as well as being involved with other Jewish community organisations.
Academic career
Rutland received her B.A. (Hons), M.A. (Hons), and Ph.D. from the University of Sydney. She also received a Diploma in Education from Sydney Teachers College.
She was the president of the Australian Association for Jewish Studies and is a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia for "service to Jewish education and history through a range of higher education development roles and as an author and academic, and to the promotion of interfaith relations".
Research
Australian Jewry
The Holocaust and Dutch Jewry
Jewish Education in Australia
Modern Israel
Lessons
Jewish civilization, thought and culture
The Australian Jewish Experience
The evolution of Judaism in the New World
Jerusalem: From Rome to Islam
Publications (selection) Rutland, Suzanne D. Lone Voice: The Wars of Isi Leibler, Jerusalem: Gefen Books; Melbourne: Hybrid Publishing, 2021. Gross, Zehavit and Rutland, Suzanne, ‘Special Religious Education in Australia and its Value to Contemporary Society, Springer International Publishing, 2021. Lipski, Sam and Rutland, Suzanne D. Let My People Go: the Untold Story of Australia and Soviet Jews, 1959-1989, Melbourne: Hybrid Publishers, 2015. Edge of the Diaspora: Two Centuries of Jewish Settlement in Australia , American edition :, New York: Holmes & Meier, 2001, i - xv, 479th With One Voice: the History of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies Sydney, Australian Jewish Historical Society, 1998, Ix, 405 (with co-author) If you will it, it is no dream: The Moriah Story , Sydney: Play Right Publishing., 2003 Jewish Life Down Under: The Flowering of Australian Jewry, Jerusalem, Institute of the World Jewish Congress, Policy Study No. 21, 2001, the 39th For a full list of publications see Professor Susanne Rutland, Sydney University.